Focus on the Rib, baby!

My wife lifted my 2 week smoking ban, but she did it with a twist- she challenged me to Mint Julip Ribs. OOOOO- tough one.

I have also begun 2 other newbies to the world of smoking- Jay and Andrew from our church. Jay is an engineer by training, and Andrew is a pastor, so we have the power of numbers and God on our side. They purchased a Backwoods Smoker (my weapon of choice) Patio- a small, 40 lb. smoker, large enough to do a turkey and a couple good sized shoulders. After an intro by yours truly, the successfully did 3 whole chickens. A little trouble w/ the heat, but they problem solved and pulled it off.

Andrew came over this am for some training, and Jay came over later in the day. We even smoked through the rain.

Last pm I cut my own spare ribs- I bought 4 racks. I have become convinced that cutting the tips off myself is the best bet. I used my new cleaver and scored it straight down the ribs, St. Louis style. Most butchers just cut off the "chink" which is the big thick bone. I like cutting them square, which gives you a nearly pure meat piece and the "chink" piece.

I used Raichlen's rub and doubled the rub and glaze recipe, but only made one recipe of the BBq sauce. I had to purchase mint jelly. I followed the recipe pretty close, but substituted spare ribs for baby backs, and smoke for nearly hours. Used hickory, oak, and applewood chips. Results below.


The ribs turned out great. I didn't start glazing until the last hour (it made a lot of glaze). Overall they tasted like regular ole' sweet ribs, but the sauce truly added the mint flavor. I'm not a huge mint fan, but the bourbon and mint together created a nice, but kind of strong aftertaste- kind of like drinking liquer, but you don't taste it. Really nice. My mother in law really liked them.

I also did an adapted recipe that Andiken and I have done before- it is a coffee-rubbed pork tenderloin adapted to a shoulder with red eye gravy BBQ sauce. The coffee rub this time turned out real peppery, which was great. I adapted the sauce a little. I cut up the onion and garlic first. I then cooked the bacon (1 slice chopped really small) in a little oil instead of butter. When it got good and brown, I added the onion and garlic and cooked it until you could really smell the garlic and the onion was transluscent (NOTE: when using onion in sauces, I find it best to GRATE the onion. That way it gets really small and practically melts in the sauce, b/c I don't like too many chunks in my sauce). I then added the coffee, scraping up little bits of bacon from the pan (called "deglazing"). Then I added the rest of the ingredients- W sauce, ketchup, molasses, etc. Really good. Watch the salt, though, b/c it comes off kind of salty. The strong sauce (does NOT taste like coffee) goes well w/ the peppery shoulder. The shoulder went about 6 hours (4.5 lb)



Andiken- of note, I tried something new in the backwoods smoker: I did NOT wrap the ribs or shoulder until I took them off the grill. I convinced myself that the high humidity of my smoker did not necessitate that. I think they turned out perfect- moist, but the bones were not falling out. I think they were great, but my wife thinks she can tell the difference. The next time I smoke, I will wrap for a max of 1 hour and see if I can tell the difference. Overall, though, I think they held up w/o wrapping. But I have a huge waterpan.

Great weekend of smoke, conquered the "too moist" rib, and tried 2 new sauces. And I'm really sold on the glazes for ribs now. Beats dumping a bunch of brown sugar and butter at the end. Oh, and I didn't baste them at all- and thats hard for me, b/c I like basting the ribs. Just spritzed a little apple juice like Mike Mills. I think I'm up for some of Raichlen's Chinatown ribs next.

Picture of Dylan, chillin' while Daddy's grillin'.